“NEVER,” Pat Haden says in that most familiar voice, in as forceful a tone as he can probably muster.

It’s summertime on the campus of USC, as abandoned as the place must ever get, save holiday breaks. A lone runner laps the track outside the new athletic director’s office window. A sampling of the Trojan Marching Band – in full dress regalia on an August afternoon – lumbers back to the music department, perspiration dripping from their foreheads, all looking to be in desperate need of electrolytes.

Heritage Hall is located just across a shady lane from the Annenberg School for Communication, a skill that Haden holds in spades and might serve him better than any of his other bountiful talents in the wake of deposed predecessor Mike Garrett, who many in the media felt was less than accessible.

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